Rise of the Silver Surfer BOX OFFICE Discussion

[highguard]

There are 2 votes up there that are very perplexing to me....

Nokio voted more than 220 million.....What the heck?????

and A1ant voted less than 130 million.....


I'm surprised by those 2 votes......

A1ant thought the poll was about opening weekend. He admitted his error.

 

[coreymb16]

Originally Posted by THE Albafan
There are 2 votes up there that are very perplexing to me....

Nokio voted more than 220 million.....What the heck?????

and A1ant voted less than 130 million.....


I'm surprised by those 2 votes......

I really hope it gets that much opening weekend, fingers crossed.

 

[phillip phonix]

this moviehas been realy hyped where i live in the UK i know abvout at least 20 - 30 people i know are going to see it this weekend so i think the film is going to be a hit, everyone i know has been sick of watching 3hr films at the pics and now just want something fun and exciting to watch, i think this film is realy going to be a hit even if critics dont like it!

well thats me done thanks!

 

[liesse00]

I'll say it opens to 65.6 million

 

[TNC9852002]

I'm thinking somewhere around 174 million domestic...

-TNC

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

ComingSoon.net has released their official forecast:

Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer (20th Century Fox)
Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher, Gonzalo Menendez, Laurence Fishburne
Directed by Tim Story (Fantastic Four, Barbershop, Taxi); Written by Don Payne (My Super Ex-Girlfriend), Mark Frost (Fantastic Four, The Greatest Game Ever Played)
Genre: Action, Superhero, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Rated PG
Tagline: "Rise."
Plot Summary: As Reed and Sue (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba) prepare to get married, the superteam faces their greatest challenge in the cosmic herald, the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who warns them of impending danger coming towards Earth and containing cosmic power that's desired by Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).
Of Note: The sequel to the 2005 blockbuster based on the Marvel Comics characters gets a sequel that adds a new element: the Silver Surfer!

Analysis: In a summer of disappointing sequels, it would be surprising if one of the few to transcend the original movie is this sequel to the 2005 blockbuster hit Fantastic Four, based on the team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961. The original movie arrived with a bit of pessimism due to director Tim Story's comedy background with movies like Barbershop and Taxi and less than overwhelming effects compared to Pixar's recent The Incredibles. Still, it made $56 million its opening weekend and went on to make over $154 million that summer, so a sequel was kind of a no-brainer. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer reunites the entire cast from the original movie as well as returning director Tim Story to the helm, but this time, it reinvents the popular story of the Silver Surfer, herald of the world-devouring Galactus. That's probably going to be what keeps Rise of the Silver Surfer from suffering the same fate of other recent sequels and the general malaise they're starting to be faced with as the summer motors along.

For those who don't remember, the team consists of Welch actor Ioan Gruffud playing Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, ultrahottie Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Julian McMahon also returns as Dr. Victor von Doom and Kerry Washington (who's just as hot as Alba in my book) returns as the Thing's blind girlfriend Alicia Masters. We'll just assume that everyone's been reading this column in the last two years and knows pretty much what everyone's been up to in the past two years, but the main new addition is Doug Jones, the creature actor star of Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy (he played Abe Sapien) and Pan's Labyrinth, providing the body of the Silver Surfer with veteran actor Laurence Fishburne providing the voice. Fishburne also probably needs no introduction, especially for those who've seen him as Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy.

We could point out the various things that each of the cast has done since the last movie (and really, it's not much), but the biggest thing going for the sequel is the Silver Surfer himself, who is essentially a cosmic surfer made of silver who has captured the imagination and excitement of comic book fans for nearly forty years, as well as becoming a bit of a pop cultural icon. The character was mentioned in one of the most famous scenes of Tony Scott's Crimson Tide and has been referenced by musicians like Joe Satriani and on TV shows for years, yet oddly, the character hasn't had a consistent running comic book title for a number of years, tending to appear in other comics despite being considered one of the more popular second-string characters in the Marvel Universe. What's cool is that like Ghost Rider, the character is the type of cool visual that makes him an exciting addition to an effects-driven action film like this, something that's been greatly played up in the teaser and trailers for the movie. (The improved effects could be attributed to Story's use of WETA FX, who were responsible for The Lord of the Rings and King Kong.)

That said, Rise of the Silver Surfer is arriving with a bit of baggage, firstly the poor reception to the original movie got both by critics (26% on Rotten Tomatoes) and by moviegoers (5.9/10 by IMDb users), and as we saw with Ocean's Thirteen, people aren't so forgiving when a studio tries to release a sequel to a movie they weren't crazy about. There's also the early internet rumors that the world-devouring being Galactus will be depicted like a giant cosmic cloud or a tornado, something that won't go over well with comic fans whose negativity hurt the legs of comic movies like The Hulk and more recently, Spider-Man 3.

One would presume this would mean a lower opening than the previous installment though there are just as many things working in its favor, the first one being the movie's short running time, which will allow for many more screenings a day than the summer's longer movies, plus it also was given a PG rating, which means it will be able to bring a lot more of a younger audience than the previous movie. (Oddly, next week's Evan Almighty is another sequel which is getting a lower rating than the original movie.) With many adults and older teens snubbed their nose at the original movie, shifting the movie's target audience to a younger one might be a smart move by 20th Century Fox, because younger viewers won't be as finicky after seeing the first movie. Still, plenty of older kids and teens will still want to see the movie for the cool action and effects in the very well executed series of trailers, commercials and the posters that have been everywhere. (Fox even had very cool life-size replicas of the Silver Surfer and his surfboard in many theatres.) On top of that, the movie might have more appeal towards urban audiences than some of the other recent choices in theatres.

The sequel also has the added power of MySpace, which is a huge boost for the sequel. Since the highly popular networking system is owned by Fox and Story has his own personal page, they've really been able to get the word out on the movie to many people, which will certainly have a major impact on how well it opens compared to the first movie. We have some great resources here at ComingSoon.net, and the fact that Rise of the Silver Surfer won our June poll quite definitively is a good sign, as is the fact that 50% of Superhero Hype! readers think that the movie will make well over $60 million its opening weekend! (Obviously, that shows there is definite excitement about the movie.)

Unfortunately, a lot of the movie's success will depend on early reviews, so 20th Century Fox is likely to follow Sony in their treatment of Ghost Rider by not screening it for critics until the last minute. (Already, one negative reader review has shown up on the "moviekiller" site Ain't It Cool News, but do we really care what they think? Probably not.)

Why I Should See It: Possibly one of the greatest comic book epics is brought to the big screen!
Why Not: Well, if you saw the original movie, you might still be a bit hesitant and skeptical.
Projections: $60 to 63 million opening weekend and $165 million total.
COMPARISONS

 

[Carp Man]

3 days. Getting down to da nitty gritty. t: And as always I will be here to give all the news that is fit ( and mabey some that is not fit ) to print. Add to that the Carp Man daily box office updates in my signature, What more could you ask 4. AICN who give a **** *** what they think. Some people come to sit and think, some come to sit and stink. AICN falls in the later. Just checked the Box Office Derby at Mojo. The prediction has dropped to $ 62.7 from yesterdays $ 64.9.

 

[Advanced Dark]

I think with FF2 Saturday will have a nice bump up over Friday thanks to the younger crowd.

 

[Tony Stark]

Does anyone think the PG rating news hurt the tracking? I think it's a feasible conclusion.

Not for the demographic it's in, I think the kids powered the suprise BO returns from the first film and they will power this as well.

Honestly outside of our community I'm not even sure how aware the general public is that it's PG.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Even if they did they're going to the film based on the trailer and their expereince with the first one. What kind of person chooses to see or not see a movie based solely on the rating. That's ridiculous. Now there are exceptions of sorts. Like I had no desire to see a PG-13 version of Aliens vs Predator. That makes no sense to take two R rated franchises and make them that toned down.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I still saw AvP, though those two franchises need the R.

I think ratings are over rated.

 

[Bishop2]

Like I had no desire to see a PG-13 version of Aliens vs Predator. That makes no sense to take two R rated franchises and make them that toned down.

Aliens was so low on violence that it'd easily get a PG-13 today if not for the F-word. AVP was actually more violent than Aliens. It's just that most of the carnage was against Predators and Aliens instead of humans.

So really, the PG-13 wound up not bothering me on that movie either. It felt like an Alien film.

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Lol

 

[Advanced Dark]

Aliens was so low on violence that it'd easily get a PG-13 today if not for the F-word. AVP was actually more violent than Aliens. It's just that most of the carnage was against Predators and Aliens instead of humans.

So really, the PG-13 wound up not bothering me on that movie either. It felt like an Alien film.

You're crazy. The intense violence and mayhem in Aliens was totally R rated. You don't need blood and gore to be rated R. I suggest you watch it again. I've seen that film at least 50 times. The extended version is even better but it drags at times.

 

[Bishop2]

You're crazy. The intense violence and mayhem in Aliens was totally R rated. You don't need blood and gore to be rated R.

Casino Royale was more R-rated than Aliens in the intensity of the violence, and it still had that PG-13. Aliens was just guns going off and mostly people getting killed off-screen. Three scenes of blood, one of which is another off-screen death and one of which is a scratch on Ripley's forehead. I love Aliens to death, but drop the F-bombs and it's easily a PG-13 in the modern era. Our ability to tolerate violence and intensity has gone way up since '86.

 

[LostSon88]

I'm thinking it'll make around the same as the first movie. 150-160 range.

Like most movies these days, it'll make most of its cash overseas...

 

[Carp Man]

^ Lol

Well, you know the crazys will be comming out the woodwork. t: And we'll be here. Bring it on.

 

[terry78]

I suspect it'll do excellent overseas. The Japanese will love this flick..it's like one big 'ol sci-fi comedy anime.

 

[Bishop2]

I suspect it'll do excellent overseas. The Japanese will love this flick..it's like one big 'ol sci-fi comedy anime.

They would've liked it even more if it had a giant Galactus stomping a city. BIG-BUDGET SENTAI ATTACK!

 

[highguard]

FF on yahoo's front page.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer.html

 

[Kelly]

FF on yahoo's front page.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer.html

Yeah, they've actually been front page quite a bit this go around....

 

[highguard]

^^ This should give it a big boost along with the myspace promotion. The next two days are gonna be killer marketing by Fox.

I hope that it pays off.

 

[LostSon88]

The MTV teenybopper crowd will eat this movie up for sure...

Possibly moreso than us fanboys!!!!

 

[coreymb16]

The MTV teenybopper crowd will eat this movie up for sure...

Possibly moreso than us fanboys!!!!

Are you talking about TRL?

 

[LostSon88]

Pretty much the TRL crowd, yeah.